"Yet the continued existence of women's and human rights activists in Sudan, as well as the diversity of Muslim culture found in Darfur, demonstrates that whoever instigated this latest incident cannot claim to speak in the name of all Sudanese."

The British Foreign Office demands an explanation from Sudan, where a British primary school teacher was charged yesterday with "insulting religion and inciting hatred" after allowing children in her class to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Harassment of women's organizations by government security agents is common and the government does not allow women's organizations to register as NGOs. But female activists have found a way to beat the system by exploiting loopholes in the law.

The Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Right Council on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, Sima Samar, issued the following statement following her fourth visit to the country from 25 July to 2 August, 2007.

Sudan has freed over 1,000 women and children from the south who had been jailed in Khartoum for brewing and selling alcohol, a crime under north Sudan's Islamic sharia law, an official said on Sunday.

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has been informed by the Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT) of the recent sentencing to death by stoning of two women by the criminal court of Al-Azazi, Managil province, Gazeera state.